An Expansion
The purpose of this exploration of the theme is to help us to reflect upon why we believe God is calling us to use it as a key image for the future of St Nic’s.
In the Bible, the word edge was interpreted in different ways. It was a legal limit or it could mean a boundary. As a legal limit it indicated the extent of people’s permitted presence e.g. lepers were not allowed outside the confines of the colony to which they were enclosed, or inside communities from which they were excluded. It also meant “hem” i.e. the hem of a garment. The Pharisees’ garment had tassels on the corners that were a mark of consecration, a reminder to obey the limits of the Law.
Jesus however entered the world and turned things on their head. With Jesus the edge — the hem or the boundary — became not a limiting of others, a keeping of distance, but a point of contact with Him e.g. the woman with hemorrhaging said to herself, “If I could just touch the hem of His garment, I would be healed.” Jesus met her there at the edge. He changed her life at the edge. Jesus did not avoid lepers, or demand that they stayed within their legally distancing boundary. He went instead beyond their edge; He touched them, He met them and there He changed their lives. For Jesus the edge was His meeting place with others. The religious people used the edge as a means of personal protection, denying any responsibility for ministry. Jesus on the other hand used the edge as His opportunity for contact with people denied community, and for His life-transforming ministry.
The image of “living on the edge” is for us a challenge to reflect a Christ-like ministry, hence “Living on the Edge... with Jesus.” It is not an easy image to live with, but it is essentially an image about faith in a Redeemer who lived His life on the edge, celebrating “life in all its fullness” with all with whom He had contact. Through His living on the edge He brought this new life to all who responded to His call to “Follow Me.” Being sent out by Jesus to “Preach the Kingdom of God; to heal the sick; to cast out demons and raise the dead” sounds like “Living on the Edge”!
